White-robed Minister

Li Gou passed away three years ago. On his deathbed, he entrusted his life's work to Chen Cigong, who was both a friend and a student, to organize.

Chen Cigong was Li Gou's brother-in-law (his wife's cousin).

He wrote Li Gou's epitaph and presided over Li Gou's funeral. He then compiled Li Gou's chronology and organized his surviving academic manuscripts.

Once these manuscripts were compiled, they were sent to Bianliang (Kaifeng) and given to Zeng Gong, Lu Dian, Deng Runfu, and other fellow students for printing.

Wang Anshi was studying it at this time, and later absorbed a large amount of it into his new learning, which became the guiding ideology of the Xining Reform.

So what was Chen Cigong's status?

Zeng Gong, one of the Eight Great Masters, and Lu Dian, Lu You's grandfather, both respectfully addressed him as their senior brother!

"Hanjie, you've finally arrived," Yu Jing greeted him warmly.

Chen Cigong bowed and smiled wryly: "In just half a year, Yu Gong has written five personal letters. If I hadn't come, these letters would probably have gone on forever."

Yu Jing pulled him inside to sit down: "The Guangzhou Prefectural School lacks renowned teachers, making it difficult for scholars to make progress. We have no choice but to request Han Jie to take up the post. Is the 'Collected Works of Mr. Li' finished yet?"

"It's finished, and it will be published this year," Chen Cigong said. "I'm not qualified to pass the imperial examination, so if I were to teach students, I'm afraid I would mislead them."

Yu Jing laughed and said, "Han Jie is too modest. With Han Jie's talent, he would be more than qualified to be a lecturer at the Imperial Academy, let alone just a professor at the Guangzhou Prefectural School."

The two men brewed tea and chatted about the past. Whenever they talked about Li Gou, they couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

After chatting for a while, Yu Jing summoned a servant boy and ordered him to fetch the articles from the study.

Before long, the daughter, Pianpian, came running after the servant boy, grinning and saying, "Ah Shuang is so clumsy, she couldn't find it anywhere. I saw Father tucked it into the book the other day."

Yu Jing said to his daughter, "This is Uncle Chen the Second."

"Greetings, Uncle Chen." Pianpian immediately bowed in greeting.

Chen Cigong exclaimed with delight, "Is this Pianpian? The last time I saw her, she was only two or three years old. She cried as soon as I held her, crying so hard that snot bubbled from her nose, and even candy couldn't soothe her."

"Hahaha!"

Yu Jing burst into laughter.

Pianpian lowered her head shyly, but in her heart she was complaining: This old man is so unreasonable, he brings up my embarrassing moments as soon as we meet.

Yu Jing handed over the paper: "This is a righteous essay written by a candidate for this year's state school entrance examination."

"I copied it for my father," Pianpian said, trying to take credit and shift the blame.

After receiving the article, Chen Cigong first praised the scribe's calligraphy: "The handwriting is beautiful and elegant."

Pianpian said, "I practice calligraphy every day."

Chen Cigong continued reading carefully, his smile gradually fading, replaced by serious contemplation. After a long while, he finally asked, "How old is this examinee?"

"I'm seventeen this year," Yu Jing replied.

Chen Cigong frowned: "Could the Three Cardinal Guides and Eight Virtues mentioned in the text be something his teacher or elders said?"

Yu Jing shook his head: "This student has no teacher. His family is a fifth-class household, and he couldn't afford to go to school when he was young, so he could only go to the village school to eavesdrop. Even the 'Rhyme Dictionary of the Ministry of Rites' used in the county examination was bought with the government's reward money after he captured and killed salt bandits."

Chen Cigong was extremely surprised: "This is a wise man indeed!"

Confucius divided people into three categories: the most intelligent, the average, and the most foolish.

The wise need no teaching, the foolish cannot be taught.

Most people in this world are of average ability and are the primary target of education.

Li Gou further subdivided this, dividing the average person into three categories. Those average people who could understand the principles after just one lesson, realize their true nature, and do good could be called sages.

As Li Gou's eldest disciple, Chen Cigong naturally held the same view and directly categorized Xu Lai as a "virtuous man".

Yu Jing smiled and said, "Whether he is virtuous or not is still unknown. But he is certainly intelligent. Last time he came to see me, he said he wanted to study at the state school. He forced me to take him in with just one poem!"

"What poem?" Chen Cigong became increasingly curious.

Yu Jing actually recited the poem aloud: "Creation is silent yet full of affection, and spring is felt every time the cold ends. A thousand reds and ten thousand purples are arranged, waiting only for the first sound of thunder."

Upon hearing this, Chen Cigong immediately clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Wonderful! Wonderful! Such a talented person deserves my nurturing. If you had sent this poem earlier, I wouldn't have needed to send five letters."

Yu Jing said, "He also has his own new interpretation of the Analects. He will tell you about it in person when he arrives."

"Father, is Xu Lai coming to our house too?" Pianpian asked.

Yu Jing nodded: "Yes, it's coming soon. You should stay away from it."

Although women at this time were not bound by many rules of etiquette, ladies from respectable families still had to be mindful of their manners.

Pianpian sat for a while longer, then heard footsteps outside and announced her departure to Yu Jing and Chen Ci.

But she didn't go far. She went through a moon gate and peeked behind a latticed window, wanting to know what the talented man her father admired looked like.

"This junior, Xu Lai, pays his respects to Master Yu." Xu Lai bowed and greeted him.

Yu Jing introduced, "This is Mr. Chen, the newly appointed professor of the state school."

Xu Lai bowed again: "Student Xu Lai greets Professor Chen."

After careful observation, Chen Cigong nodded: "Beneath the politeness lies a hidden arrogance. Excellent!"

Pianpian was peeking out from behind the latticed window, secretly observing as well.

When Xu came to work as a conscript last year, his skin was quite dark, tanned from years of hard labor. He hasn't been in the sun much these past few months, and his complexion has become much fairer.

He's fairly tall, but unfortunately quite thin.

Firstly, they're at the age where they're growing taller but not gaining weight. Secondly, they haven't been getting enough nutrition since childhood, and it's hard to make up for it in a short time.

He was dressed in a short brown outfit, and in terms of price alone, it was not even as expensive as the servants in Yu Jing's household.

Pianpian thought to herself: His looks are alright, better looking than my brothers.

Her brothers all inherited Yu Jing's short stature; no matter how much meat they ate, they wouldn't grow taller. Being short and stocky, they naturally didn't look handsome.

Pianpian's birth mother was a songstress, skilled in singing and dancing, and very tall. However, due to her father's genes, she was only about the same height as an average woman.

Fortunately, her appearance resembled that of her birth mother.

Her fifth sister was quite unlucky; she looked more like Yu Jing.

Is someone spying on us?

The lattice window was only a few steps away from the stone table. Xu Lai caught a glimpse of a head moving and subconsciously looked in that direction.

There was a young girl with her hair styled in two buns, tied with a pale yellow silk ribbon. There were no pearls or jade ornaments on her buns, only a silver hairpin inserted diagonally.

"ah!"

Their eyes met, and Pianpian was so frightened that she quickly shrank back and crouched down to run towards the house.

Madam Lin, the stepmother, stopped embroidering and asked with a smile, "Why are you running in such a hurry?"

"I forgot to take something," Pianpian said as she slipped into her room.

The maid, Yu'er, asked, "Young lady, what's wrong?"

Pianpian whispered, "I just saw Xu come."

"Is he handsome?" Yu'er asked, very gossipy.

"Hmm," Pianpian recalled carefully, "He's alright, just too skinny, as thin as a bamboo pole. He's better looking than my older brothers, but not as good-looking as my two cousins. No, wait... although my cousins ​​are handsome, I don't really like them... What do you think of this Scholar Xu?"

There is no suitable adjective to describe "翩翩".

Yu'er's interest was piqued: "Take me to see it quickly!"

"good!"

They don't have many entertainment activities, especially after arriving in Guangzhou, where they are unfamiliar with the place and can't even find close friends.

Yu Jing rarely invited guests to the governor's backyard, and even when he did, they were always at least forty years old.

Xu Lai was the first young man to arrive here.

The master and servant acted like thieves; peeping at the man was secondary, their main motivation was finding it novel and exciting.

"Tread quietly and don't make a sound."

"I know. Where is it?"

"You can see it if you lie behind the stained glass window."

"I saw it, I saw it."

"Move aside."

"..."

In the courtyard, Xu Lai was already sitting on a stone bench.

After inquiring about his basic situation, Chen Cigong asked him, "Do you have a new interpretation of the Analects?"

"The last one I presented to Master Yu was hastily written and rather rough. In the last two months, I have made some more additions." Xu Lai actually pulled out a copy of "A Brief Discussion of the Analects" from his pocket.

This guy was prepared!

Chen Cigong took it and flipped through it, immediately unable to look away.

He devoted himself to scholarship for decades, even neglecting the imperial examinations, only taking one special examination after being recommended for it. His erudition was among the best in the entire Song Dynasty.

Of course, it would be difficult for him to pass the imperial examination because his academic ideas were too avant-garde!

After only glancing at a few lines of text, Chen Cigong felt very awkward.

He strongly agreed with some of Xu Lai's views. However, he also strongly disagreed with some of them, and even felt hostility towards them.

Chen Cigong scrutinized Xu Lai again, as if he were a flawed piece of jade.

He wanted to carefully refine it, but he was afraid of damaging the original essence of the raw jade.

After thinking for a long time, Chen Cigong said, "Since you have only studied the Analects, then you should stay in the outer room and study other minor classics. If you have free time, you can come to the inner room to listen to my lectures."

"Thank you for your understanding, sir!" Xu said.

Chen Cigong then asked, "How did you summarize the Three Cardinal Guides and Eight Principles?"

Xu Lai said, "I was eavesdropping on the village school teacher's lecture. The original text was right there; I knew it the first time I heard it."

Chen Cigong: "..."

Yu Jing: "..."

The two old gentlemen were speechless for a moment. What the hell was he talking about?

Yu Jing was stingy; he didn't even invite Xu to stay for dinner, offering only a few words of encouragement before sending him away.

After Xu Lai left, Yu Jing chuckled and said, "He's right, the original text is right there. It's just that we are so familiar with the scriptures that we treat them like treasures in our homes, seeing them every day and taking them for granted."

Chen Cigong sighed, "This young man has the potential to be a wise man, a rare find in a thousand years. But his 'Preliminary Discussions on the Analects' is too crude and unrestrained. I don't know whether I should correct him or not, for fear of distorting his thinking."

"Let nature take its course," Yu Jing said.

The master and servant behind the latticed window had already shrunk their heads back in.

Yu'er said, "My husband and that old gentleman spoke highly of him; he's truly a great talent. It's just that his clothes aren't very nice. I'm thinking of buying him a nice outfit to change into; maybe that will make him look even more dashing."

Pianpian teased, "You've already taken a liking to him? How about I betroth you to him and even prepare a dowry for you?"

"I don't want to." Yu'er blushed.

Pianpian thought Xu Lai was alright looking, but her personal maid was already budding with romantic feelings.